edition 12 free july 2013 country show line-up announced ......brixton bugle july 2013 3 news one of...

SW9 SKATEBOARDINGDean Clarke p6

WHAT’S ON GUIDEThe best July events p10-11

Edition 12 FREE JULY 2013

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INSIDE...

The Duke returnsMore than 66 years after he was born in a terraced house in Stans-field Road, David Bowie returns to Brixton in the form of a giant mural on the side of a department store. News, p2

The OrbWe catch up with Alex Patterson from The Orb about the Barrier Block, Brixton and taking the Bugle around the world.

Culture, p13

Summer grubIn her last gastronomic outing for BB for a while, Lindsay heads to Rancho de Lalo in Granville Arcade. While Nichols Balfe gets in the summer spirit despite the weather with Elderflower Polenta Cake. Food, p15

Memories of Nelson MandelaAs The Bugle went to press, former South African

leader Nelson Mandela was in a critical condition in a Pretoria Hospital, aged 94.

As the revered statesman approaches the end of his life, Brixton Bugle editor Zoe Jewell and readers have remembered the momentous day on July 12 1996 that Mandela came to Brixton Recreation Centre at his own request.

More than 12,000 people lined the streets and chant-ed his name, bringing peace and unity to a Brixton that ten years before had been torn apart by rioting.

According to newspaper reports at the time, chil-dren danced and some people burst into tears when the former president arrived wearing African dress.

As market trader Stuart Horwood recalls: “Brixton chooses people and I think Brixton actually chose Nel-son Mandela to come here, so it was a match made in heaven.

“For Brixton’s history it’s a major event - I can’t really think of anything that’s been more significant as far as positive things go.”

For more memories and tributes turn to page 5.

STATESMAN: Nelson Mandela arrives at Brixton Rec, accompanied by Prince Charles. Picture by Evening Standard / Jeremy Selwyn

[email protected]: 020 3730 1312

Country Show line-up announcedBY ZOE JEWELL

The posters are up in the street, the chicken is being jerked and the ci-der is brewing for the annual Lam-beth jolly, the Lambeth Country Show, which will be held on July 20 and 21 this year.

The line-up has been announced for the main stage and includes kings of Afro-pop Osibisa, roots reggae master Max Romeo and Madness man Lee Thompson with his Ska Orchestra. One of our fa-vourite Brixton bands, the Sooth-sayers, will be playing with falsetto singer Cornel Campbell.

It’s the event when the country-side comes to the city, but really it’s all about the urban community we have here.

Merlene Anderson, who runs the Caribbean Cuisine stall, said: “For me it’s a nice community thing. The stall is something me and my kids put together because we live in the borough. We have no shop and we are not business peo-ple. It’s not always something you get money from but I enjoy doing it.”

Sally Prentice, cabinet member for culture and leisure, said: “It’s a place where people of all back-

grounds, young and old, come together to enjoy all sights and sounds of the town and country.”

The council almost cancelled the show last year due to the Olympics, but after a Brixton Blog campaign it was eventually saved and took place in September. It’s now back to

it’s usual July slot. As well as music, there will be

Caribbean cuisine, farm animals, vegetable competitions, and arts and crafts.

Full Country Show round-up and colour map on page 17.

PARTY ON: The main stage of the Country Show. Right, Max Romeo will play the show on the Sunday afternoon

Brixton Bugle July 20132

NEWS www.brixtonblog.com

The Brixton Bugle & BrixtonBlog.com are edited in Brixton by Zoe Jewell and

Tim Dickens.

Both the website and newspaper are published by a not-for-profit

community organisation. It’s run by a committed team of people from

Brixton.

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A massive thank you to everybody involved in making this issue, and the

Blog & Bugle project, a success.

ROLL OF HONOURISSUE ELEVEN

Ashley ClarkRuth MillerFiona LawTim Bird

Josie GardinerKaylene Alder

Sarah SolomonPam WilliamsAlistair Hall

Nicholas BalfeLucy BurtonEmma Lax

Mac MacbrideAntonio Sansica

Rob Pinney

Brixton SocietyLambeth Archives

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Shock after much-loved cllr dies of heart attackA Labour councillor for Tulse Hill, cllr Ruth Ling, has died suddenly of a heart attack, aged 61.

Cllr Ling passed away on June 15 at Kings College Hospital. She had been an elected member of Lambeth council for 19 years, and spent much of her time there as a senior member of the plan-ning committee.

A by-election for Tulse Hill ward has now been called for July 25.

Following news of her death, tributes poured in from col-leagues and friends. Writing on brixtonblog.com, former Labour leader of Lambeth council, Steve Reed, called Ms Ling a “one-off, wonderful, warm, and infuriat-ing” woman.

Reed, now the MP for Croy-don North, added: “Her loss is a

devastating one to everyone who knew Ruth. The landscape looks a little more barren today with her removed from it.”

The current Lambeth leader, Cllr Lib Peck, said: “We are all deeply saddened and shocked

at the sudden death of our val-ued colleague and friend. Our thoughts are with her family at this difficult time.”

Ruth Ling also worked as a journalist and was a fluent Por-tugese speaker, which helped her engage with Brazilian and Portugese residents.

Labour MP for Streatham, Chuka Umunna, said he was “deeply saddened and shocked to hear the news of the death of my good friend cllr Ruth Ling.”

The leaders of Lambeth’s oth-er two main parties also paid tribute to cllr Ling in a joint statement.

She leaves behind two sisters, Ellie and Kitty.

Steve Reed MP pays tribute to his friend and colleague, com-ment, page nine.

Young people from Brixton are taking part in the latest solar energy project from Repowering South London.

The GCSE students are tak-ing part in paid work experience placements to install solar panels on the roof of four buildings on the Roupell Park Estate, Brixton Hill.

The scheme is the third of-fering from Repowering, which is looking to attract £67,000 of investment from local people, including Roupell Park residents.

During a recent visit to the rooftop project, energy secretary Ed Davey said: “: “Communi-ty energy isn’t just about energy generation. It’s about commu-nities taking the opportunity to protect themselves from rising fuel costs, reduce emissions and help local young people in the community boost their skills and

experience.“I wish Brixton Energy Solar 3

the very best of luck in their re-cently launched share offer and every success for the future.”

To buy your shares in Brix-ton Energy Solar 3 before July 14 and support the project, visit www.brixtonenergy.co.uk or call 07960 829 826.

Sun shines on renewable energy project launch

A chef ’s school, a gym and a community kitchen are just some of the suggestions for a major new development at So-merleyton Road in the centre of Brixton.

On July 8, council officers will present a report to Lambeth’s Cabinet members on the prog-ress of the Somerleyton consulta-tions and seek permission to take the project forward.

Senior councillors will be asked to approve the outline for development at the site, and to give officers the green light to start looking for a developer to carry out the work.

They are also expected to en-ter into a formal agreement with

the Oval House Theatre over the project’s new home on the road.

The key question at the mo-ment remains the type of hous-ing on offer at Somerleyton and the extent to which rents will be truly affordable.

Neil Vokes, council officer, said: “We’ve done a feasibility study and the report will recom-mend 280 properties on the site. As a minimum we can say 40% of these will be affordable. We will do our best to get as many as possible at target rent, the coun-cil social rent. We are looking at models to increase the affordable housing.”

In the late summer, the coun-cil plans to publish a detailed

brief for developers, which will contain requirements for anyone wishing to bid for the site.

The development is complex because it has a number of part-ners on board – the council has overall say, but it has partnered with Brixton Green, a local com-munity group, to put together the plans. Oval House Theatre, which will move to the site once it is built, is also a key decision maker in the discussions. Other groups, such as Carlton Man-sions Housing Co-Operative and the Southwyck House Residents Association have been consult-ed to varying degrees, alongside members of the public at local events.

Council considers proposals for theatre and homes development in town centre

DOG SHOW Brixton and Herne Hill dog-lov-ers are gearing up for the event of the year.

The Brockwell Park Dog Show, on July 14, will offer priz-es for the cutest puppy, golden oldie, dog’s got talent and fancy dress. The theme this year is Space and Aliens. Registration begins at midday and the show runs from 2pm until 4pm.

PRISON PLANBrixton prison has been

recommended for closure in a report into the future of Lon-don’s prisons. The report, by the think tank Policy Exchange, recommended that the jail, in Jebb Avenue, should close.

According to the report the prison costs £26million to run, and each inmate costs £49,802 per year.

ROYAL HONOURSongstress Adele, former council leader Steve Reed and academy principle Greg Martin were among the local characters recognised in the Queen’s birth-day honours list.

Lambeth council’s former head of social care, Ade Ade-tosoye, 43, also scooped an OBE in the list, announced last month. “

He told The Voice it was “trib-ute to my previous colleagues in Lambeth, the social workers and the staff for supporting these vulnerable and challenging chil-dren and for working with me.”

PLAY PRIZEBrockwell Park’s new adventure playground has won a nation-al award. It picked up Best Playground Design in the Local Government Awards last month.

The playground was part of a wider £3.5million redevelop-ment of the park, funded by lottery cash.

PUB SMASH One man was arrested after this high-powered Audi smashed into the side of the Elm Park Tavern, Elm Park.

No-one was injured during the smash on June 12, which followed a police car chase from Leander Road. The man was ar-rested on suspicious of aggravat-ed car theft, failing to stop and dangerous driving.

BRIGHT FUTURE: Intern Blazej Makowski, 16, at Roupell Park

Brixton Bugle July 2013 3


One of Brixton’s most famous sons, David Bowie, has been im-mortalised in a wall painting in the heart of the town.

The mural, unveiled last month, was painted by Australian street artist James Cochran and can be found on the wall of Morley’s de-partment store, in Tunstall Road.

It was commissioned as part of an exhibition called The Many Faces of Bowie, at Opera Gallery, central London.

Bowie was born David Robert Jones at 40 Stansfield Road, Brix-ton in January 1947. He went to Stockwell Primary School until his parents moved to Bromley in 1953.

Speaking at the wall’s unveil-ing, Cochran said: “I have much respect for the artist David Bowie. Not only does he write great mu-sic, there has always been such a strong visual and aesthetic element to his image and performances.

“To create a canvas and a wall piece for the streets of Brixton feels like a fitting tribute. I hope Brixton’s residents enjoy it.”

The Many Faces of Bowie Ex-hibition will be at Opera Gallery until August 31.

Bowie back in town

BY ZOE JEWELL

Wannabe Usain Bolts will be limbering up for the second year running later this month, as the Brixton Bolt 100m race returns.

Men, women and children will compete in races on Pope’s Road on July 28 for the ac-colade “the fastest in Brixton”.

The Brixton Bolt team launched the event last October, inspired by the excite-ment around the Olympics. Organiser Tom Shakhli told the Brixton Bugle at the time: “Brixton’s got a proud and strong Jamaican community and watching the reaction when Usain Bolt won both races got me thinking about how to harness that.

“When I told people the idea everyone smiled and said that sounds like great fun.

I’ve tried to make it something that’s fun for everyone.”

The Brixton Bolt has secured funding this year from the Community Games, which helps local athletics events, and the team hopes to donate any profits from to the Ev-elina Children Appeal.

If you want to train for the event, you can join the Brixton Blog Running Club at 7pm every Monday at Windrush Square for a few laps around Brockwell Park.

The Community Games have hinted that they’ll send some ex-Olympians to Brixton on the day. Usain Bolt himself won’t be there though – he’ll be competing in the Anni-versary Games across town at the Olympic Stadium.

Bolt-mania returns as contest heats up

PROUD: Artist James Cochran with his masterpiece in Tunstall Rd

Windmill shows strength of flour powerAshby Mill, the beloved mascot

of the Brixton Bugle, celebrated its annual parade and festival.

The mill, affectionately known as Brixton Windmill, was the desti-nation for a procession of colourful floats on June 15, including street

sweepers, local schoolchildren and market traders. It’s been a bumper year for the windmill, with the un-veiling of a new mural in the shadow of its sails, the launch of a flour fund and much more besides.

DAILY GRIND: A tour of the windmill. Pic by Rob Pinney

Brixton Road was closed after a man was hit by a number 35 bus. The man in his 20s was taken to hospital in a stable condition after the inci-dent, on June 25, under the low-lev-el railway bridge.

Witness Cathy Ashley said: “Just

saw a man walk in front and be hit by a bus. He’s badly injured.

Police closed Brixton Road be-tween Gresham Roud and Acre Lane, causing long tailbacks in each direction.

More online at brixtonblog.com

Pedestrian hit by bus



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Doing the Lambeth Dad’s Walk Father’s Day was celebrated in

Brixton by the brilliant Lambeth Dads group who organised the 100 Dads Walk around Brockwell Park.

Kids and dads walked around the park to the One O’Clock Club where lots of activities were on of-fer.

Seany O’Kane from the Lambeth Dads said: “I think what struck us most was the wonderfully warm and friendly atmosphere.

“We also met dads at the event who had struck up friendships on the day and had agreed to meet up in the near future together with their children”.

BY ZOE JEWELL, EDITORSecretary of State Michael Gove

last month approved the plans to expand Sudbourne Primary School to Acre Lane, but the success of the project still hangs in the balance, dependent on a key planning deci-sion by the council this July.

Sudbourne Primary School plans to build a new school build-ing on the site of the old timber yard at 47-49 Acre Lane, with an entrance on Sudbourne Rd. Lam-beth Council has persuaded Gen-esis Housing Association, which owns the land, to swap the site with one on Mandrell Rd, formerly oc-cupied by the special needs school The Livity School.

Genesis wants to build housing on Mandrell Rd but its plans were deferred last month after residents protested at the size and scope of

the development.Florence Nosegbe, cllr for Brix-

ton Hill, said: “One of the main concerns of the Livity Action Group is the density of the propos-al and as ward councilors we had concerns about that too. Initially Genesis proposed four storeys and 51 residential units. When that went to planning it was reduced down to about 43 units and to three storeys. There’s been a quite a sub-stantial reduction so I think that’s quite good.”

The Livity development will come before the planning commit-tee again on July 2 and if the plans are approved, Sudbourne will be able to go ahead with its expansion. However the Livity Action Group still plans to oppose the changes, arguing that the redesign hasn’t changed enough. Evan Yacoub of

Mandrell Rd said: “They’ve lobbed off eight units but the rest is much the same. There are no green spac-es. The trees are still being decimat-ed.”

Cllr Nosegbe expressed her support for the school. “More and more people are choosing to send their kids to local schools which is good, but bad because there’s not enough space.”

If the Livity plans go through, Sudbourne School will go ahead with the building project on Acre Lane. It would mean being able to accept an estimated 315 more pu-pils per year. Ben Tunstall, parent and vice chair of the school govern-ing body, said Sudbourne will now look to appoint an architect, and hopes to open the new building in September 2015.

Government green light to school plans

The Brixton Society is urging residents to have their say on plans for nine-storey block of flats on the site of a central Brixton pub.

Developers are holding a con-

sultation on their plans for the Canterbury Arms pub, Cantebury Crescent, and want local people to respond before they submit a for-mal planning application to Lam-

beth Council later this year. The plans were unveiled at a

meeting in International House on June 28. they include 40 residential units and a community use func-tion on part of the ground floor.

The chairman of Brixton Society, Bill Linskey, said: “It is important at this stage that as many people as possible have their say on the plans.

“If people don’t say anything then the developer can turn around and say that no-ones bothered about what happens here.”

The development will be the first move in the wider development around Popes Road, including In-ternational House and the site of the temporary ice skating rink.

View the proposed plans at www.brixtonblog.com

Plan for 40 flats at pub site

THE END: Canterbury Arms

BY KAYE WIGGINS

Brixton town centre could see a se-ries of changes including the exten-sion of the market, the redevelop-ment of the overground rail station and the introduction of a managed bike parking area close to the tube station, under plans approved by councillors this month.

The plans, which include a “vi-sion” of Brixton’s development over the next 20 to 30 years, are set out in the Brixton supplementary plan-ning document (SPD).

The report divides the town centre into five areas, each with different uses (see box), to deter-mine which developments will be allowed to go ahead in different areas.

It says some parts of Brixton are ripe for major improvements. The “poor quality” of the overground station does “harm to first impres-sions” of the area, it says, adding that improvements such as a lift, new lighting and a more attractive entrance should be a priority.

Electric Avenue could be resur-faced and the shops refurbished, with a better system for street cleaning, it says. More use could also be made of empty units on the upper floors of the street’s historic buildings.

The report says more cycle park-ing could be provided outside the library on Windrush Square and there could be a bike parking “hub”, which would be a “covered and managed” space close to the under-ground station.

Space will also be set aside for the extension of the “Boris Bikes” cycle hire scheme to Brixton, and the council will investigate options for a taxi rank in central Brixton. It says the council will continue lob-bying for Brixton to be on the new East London Line.

It also says Lambeth council will attempt to address overcrowding on Brixton high street, particularly near bus stops.

The SPD represents the council’s aims and ambitions rather than a set of concrete, approved changes.

Vision for town centre’s future

DIRECTION: The document sets out development ambitions


NELSON MANDELA www.brixtonblog.com

The day Mandela came

Stuart Horwood, watch stall on Pope’s Rd:I was here, right on my pitch on the day that Nelson Mandela came to Brixton Recreation Centre. I remember the thousands and thousands of people that were here to see him, I remember the carnival atmosphere that we had and just the sense of one love. Brixton chooses people and I think Brixton actually chose Nelson Mandela to come here, so I think it was a match made in heaven myself. For Brixton’s history it’s a major event - I can’t really think of anything that’s been more significant as far as positive things go. The sense of respect for the man who’s a great icon - we can only be thankful that he came to Brixton. I hope that he’s at peace.

BY ZOE JEWELL, EDITORStruggling through the crowds and jumping up onto a market stall to get a good look at a grey-haired man in African dress, far away up on the Brixton Recreation Centre steps. It was he, not the prince standing next to him, who everyone cared about - he was, of course, Nelson Mandela. I was 10 years old in 1996 and, as a sign of how important a day it was, my primary school had let everyone off school for Mandela’s visit to Brixton. Some lucky people won tickets to get inside the Rec to hear him speak, others simply went to see him, chant his name and cheer him on as he arrived. When Mandela left Brixton to give a speech in Trafalgar Square, so many people ran after the car that Brixton Road was left littered with people’s shoes. Brixton’s experience of Mandela was a small but signifi-

cant one - it was Brixton that he chose to visit, not anywhere else in the UK. Less than a decade before it had been the centre of riots, but it was also the centre of struggle for black rights in the UK, the home of Olive Morris, a place that had given a lot to the apartheid struggle, a place with a large black population, an iconic area. Here, some of those who saw Mandela in Brixton 17 years ago share their memories and pay tribute to a man whose influence across the world has been stronger than really anyone can say.

Left: Zoe Jewell, aged 10, and brother Charlie on the day of Mandela’s visit.

Nelson Mandela meets one of the thousands of wellwishers outside Brixton Recreation Centre, during his visit on July 12 1996. Picture: Getty Images / Tim Graham

Tony Moody, cricket coach:Nelson Mandela gave up his life for people generally to have equal rights and justice, similar to Jesus Christ. On the day of his visit it was like having a proper Reggae blues dance (party). I took my son and ex-plained the importance of his visit, we now share the same dream of a United World Cricket Team.

Robyn Dasey: My partner and I took the day off work to be in Station Road and attend the concert in the Rec. I had won tickets from a lucky dip draw for Rec users. My overwhelming memories are the sheer outpouring of emotion, happiness and joy in the streets. The open car carrying Man-dela (and Prince Charles though he was marginal to the crowd) was late, constantly held up by the throngs in the streets trying to see Mandela, giving him flowers, passing their small children off their shoulders to better see him. Station Road was to-tally packed and the African band played on the steps of the Rec. My partner, who is now 82, says for him the celebration was even more memorable than D-Day (when he was 17).

The only way into the Rec event was via the In-ternational House entrance on Canterbury Ave. The emotion of the crowds outside and the fact that Mandela was free and visiting Brixton after all the years of anti-apartheid struggle, was so over-whelming that I cannot remember much about the concert or the speeches but children’s choirs sang the new South African anthem.

Tim Donaghy: I was up bright and early so I made sure I got a front row place because I didn’t get a ticket to get in the Rec. I was outside the Jacaranda as it was then - now it’s that Craft Beer place. It was really good, I got really close to Mandela and Prince Charles. Someone put a girl over the railings with flowers to give to Nelson Mandela and the security got in a flap and put Mandela and Charles in a car to whiz them off to Trafalgar Square where he was giving a speech at South Africa House.

Everyone chased the car. There were shoes everywhere on Brixton Rd because everyone lost them when they were running. Everyone followed the car up to Trafalgar Sq.

We were so proud he was coming to Brixton - he’s the greatest man of our lifetime. He came to Brixton for a personal thank you. Through that time [apartheid era] no one would buy anything South African and everyone was going on all the marches.

Picture by Sian Williams



Melody David talks to 37-year-old Paulo da Silva about making a business from other people’s trash.

What is Unike?Unike has two business functions; we operate a removals service and run a vintage shop on Brixton Hill. We started in 2005 as a removals service doing domestic removals when people are moving or clear-ing out. We also do pick-ups from stores such as Ikea and B&Q and help deliver goods home for peo-ple moving or renovating. We also deliver items bought in the shop so the two businesses work well to-gether.

Why did you start the vintage shop?I opened three years ago as a Por-tuguese café and restaurant but it wasn’t doing too well. I spotted an opportunity whilst running the removals business to sell unwant-ed things from my clients. Often when we do removals there are lot of items people no longer want and ask me to dump them. We charge for clearing away rubbish but I offer

this to clients for free if they have items I want to sell on in my shop. In February 2013 we re-opened as a vintage shop at the same site and I also moved the removals service there too. People have the most bi-zarre and beautiful things in their homes. It’s fascinating.

So what do you sell in the shop?It really varies. Old furniture such as dressers, wardrobes, mirrors, so-fas, chairs to books, vinyl records, paintings even fireplaces! The em-phasis is on vintage things, so most of the stuff is very old and dates back to the early 20th century. One example is a Steck 1920’s pianola, which originally came from Har-rods. I also source vintage items from car boot sales and auctions, I just love trash!

Who are your customers?Anybody! We do get a lot of local business but being on Brixton Hill which is such a main road is really great because we get a lot of people from near and far calling us to say they’ve seen us as they’ve driven past. We’ve had bookings from as far as Brighton.

You mentioned your restaurant business didn’t do too well, how hard is it running a small busi-ness?The restaurant was great project and I loved running it but the de-mand wasn’t high enough for us to continue. Even now it’s hard to make a profit. I have three full time staff, two vans and a shop to run.

Rent, electricity and business rates are well over £3,000 a month. I think it’s difficult for small business owners as there’s little flexibility from the government if you can’t pay your rates one month. Times are hard but people always need to move and they always love a vin-tage bargain!

What are your future plans?Keep selling beautiful trash and maybe one day I’ll open a bar somewhere.

You can find Unike at 206 Brix-ton Hill, London SW2 1HE

BUSINESS FOCUS: Unike, Brixton Hill

Paulo da Silva, right, and a scene from inside his shop, Unike. Pictures by Melody David

BY ISIOMA DANIELYou might have spotted him sailing through the peaks and troughs of Stockwell skatepark or Brixton Beach as its locally known. At six feet tall with geeky red glasses and one of the few black skateboarders out there Dean Clarke, 28, stands out in London’s skateparks. He takes the attention in his stride and is putting it to good use.

The Brixton Bugle met up with him to talk about growing up in Brixton, his passion for skate-boarding and being mentored by Reggae Reggae food mogul Levi Roots on his journey to start a Brixton based skateboarding apparel band.

Dean Clarke first picked up a skateboard at 17 when his father wryly said to him, “Well if you are going to break your neck, you might as well do it on me,” and placed a £50 note in his hand giving his son his blessing to start up with a sport very few black teens growing up in Brixton then indulged in.

“It’s not so unusual now but back when I was a teen skating through the streets of Brixton, I would get stopped by a lot of people asking surprised questions,” he chuckles.

Dean has lived in Brixton all his life. His earliest memories are of visiting Brixton market with his mum and aunts, and having that overwhelming feeling that Brixton felt like the whole world contained in a town.

“I loved it. There are quite a few estates in Brixton with families

and kids so growing up here there was always things to do, friends to make and kids to play with.”

But despite the warm early memories, he admits that growing up in Brixton was tough. “Because there is such a diverse array of op-portunities, it is challenging to stay focused on what you want to do with your life. Sometimes a young person growing up here, can make the wrong choice.”

Dean’s family are originally from Barbados and Trinidad and his mother and father settled in Brixton in the 60s. He recollects that for his parents life in London was hard. “My parents would tell me stories about police harassment when they were out and about and racial prejudices they faced finding housing and jobs. The risk with growing up black in Brixton and hearing those stories is that you can go out in society with your own prejudices of how you’ll be met and life can sometimes become a vicious cycle.”

Skateboarding was one of the ways Dean broke away from the stereotypes. “I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. A friend taught me a few tricks on how to keep balance and I started building con-fidence to spend time in Stockwell skatepark.”

He has now channelled his pas-sion for skateboarding to creating the Brixton based skateboarding apparel brand R3V3R3NT Skate-boards and his business plan has caught the attention of Levi Roots, Brixton’s well known entrepre-neurial face.

Through a combination of public and private funding began printing branded skateboarding hoodies and t-shirts for men and women with the signature brand R3V3R3NT Skateboards on them, as well as designing custom made skateboards.

“I chose a brand name that re-flects how I feel about skateboard-ing. R3V3R3NT is about respect and passion for skateboarding.”

For a first time local business owner, mentoring means a lot, and Dean has been lucky enough to receive that from Levi Roots.

“Levi Roots has been a great inspiration because he comes from Brixton. I thought if he can do it then I can too.”

With the R3V3R3NT website

now up and running and taking orders his plans are to grow the product offering, do some com-munity based sports work teaching kids in Brixton to skateboard and run skateboarding competitions in South London’s skateparks.

“I hope to have an established Brixton-grown skateboard brand in a few years time. Hopefully if it takes off I’ll inspire other young people who’ve grown up in Brixton that if you have a dream, you can work towards it and achieve it.”

You can check out R3V3R3NT Skateboards at www.r3v3r3nt.com and follow Dean’s journey on Twitter @revgroup1984

Brixton People: Dean Clarke, skateboarder

Pics by Antonio Sansica

More interviews and profiles online at www.brixtonblog.com


FEATURE www.brixtonblog.com

STUDIO SATTA IS A MULTIDISCIPLINARY DESIGN STUDIO BASED IN BRIXTON SPECIALISING IN URBAN GARDEN DESIGN AND BUILD

www.studiosatta.co.uk

Last week Emma Lax found herself and her bike in some rather extraordinary scrapes. Dismayed by inaction from Lambeth cops, she took matters into her own hands. Here’s her story...

So last week someone stole my bike. As I live in London this is no great surprise, a bike is stolen every minute. What is a little more surprising is that I got it back (over 95% never see their bike again). Here’s a rundown of my day as a bike thief vigilante and how to avoid being the next ‘one stolen every minute’.

Situations like this bring out the angry

Scot in me. I see red. I behave irrationally. I refuse to listen to anyone. I’m definitely a ‘fight’ rather than ‘flight’ kinda girl. This can sometimes be an asset but more often than not it gets me into trouble. Before I go on let’s make this clear, I do not condone my behaviour. That said I would do exactly the same thing again, minus wasting my time hanging about in the police station.

So on Wednesday eve-ning when I found out my bike had been nicked in BrixtonI got a serious case of red eye. Every cyclist became a potential ‘perp’. If I saw someone on a bike that resembled mine I’m pretty certain I would have instigated a bare knuckle fight in the middle of the high street without a second thought (see Exhibit A).I promise you wouldn’t suspect me as the sort…I then scouted the internet for my missing bike, and within minutes I had found it on Gumtree but I needed to be sure. I rang him. Despite the red eye I managed to maintain my undercover persona, I established it was my bike and arranged to meet him later that evening to buy it. I called the police (on 101, their non-emergency number) to ask if someone from the police might be able to come down with me…they told me to go down to the station.

After giving details and waiting for an hour or so the bobby told me to go home… stabbings take priority. I get it, there’s more serious stuff going down in Brixton.

What I didn’t appreciate was being told that they wouldn’t do anything about it but I shouldn’t either. So when I got out of the station I planned a meet up. Luckily for me, because it isn’t very sensible to meet criminals on your own at half 11 at night, he

was sleeping so I arranged to meet him the next day.

The next day I was more prepared. I put on my running kit in case I need-ed a quick getaway. I took an old bank card in case he demanded to see how I planned to pay for it. I had a tin of concentrated hairspray in my pocket to blind the bugger. I had a set of sharp keys to key him in the face

with, post blinding obviously. Finally, I told someone where I was going in case for any reason I didn’t come back.

Lambeth Met Police didn’t have time to come with me but while I was prepping supplies they did however manage to trawl the internet to find my twitter slating of them. They sent me a tweet me to follow up my crime number (see Exhibit B for my response).

Then when I was on my way I got a call from the police. Yay to the power of the twittersphere! Two officers had some time but I wasn’t going to compromise the recovery of my bike. I told them what I was doing and they waited nearby, they ‘had my back’. So I met up

with the ‘perp’, looked as innocent as pos-sible asked to go for a test run on it (rookie mistake on his part). The two bobbies arrest-ed him, confirmed it was my bike, vigilante mission complete. Now there’s just a court date to follow.

Despite my online slating of the police, they were amazing when they got there and

went the extra mile. So a massive shout out to the two policemen who helped retrieve my bike and a very special shout out to PC Bateman (Brixton’s answer to Jack Bauer).

This article has been repub-lished with the permission of the author from lunge-sandlycra.co.uk.

Exhibit A: Facebook status at time of the

theft: “If I see anyone riding round Brixton

on a GIANT mountain bike whether it’s mine or not I plan to hit you

in the face.”

Exhibit B: My twitter ramblings to the local police: “@lambethmps yes I have a crime number. The police made it clear that stabbings take priority. If I get stabbed I’ll be in touch.”

One bike is stolen every minute, how I got mine back

BAUER POWER: PC Bateman

VIGILANTE: Emma Lax, right


ANOTHER VIEW www.brixtonblog.com

READERS’ PICTURES: Windmill Parade, by Alex MasseyIn between rain showers at the Brixton Windmill parade and festival, Brixton Bugle reader Alex Massey caught this animated shot from his vantage point on Windrush Square. He tweeted us to say: “And the #BrixtonWindmill carnival band in full swing. In your face inclem-ent weather!! #brixton @BrixtonBlog.”

Too many tweets Some of your #Brixton tweets:

@Tom999x: Baytree Road made two way then one way in opposite direction in space of 2wks! All new lines painted over. What’s going on?

[email protected]

@_Brixtonmarket: Getting excited about some #stree-play, #carnivalarts and magic on #Brixton Station Rd this Saturday at our Childrens Market!

@Brixtonpound: Time to get out and about in #Brixton and spend some e-Brixton Pounds! And now you can use our shortcode 81400 to send your payment.

Join the conversation at #Brixton. Tweet @BrixtonBlog or @Brixton_Bugle

TAKE FIVE Joe Storey

Joe Storey runs the gift shop 20 Storey, in Market Row. Here he shares his fa-vourite Brixton hangouts...

MARKET ROW WINES, Mar-ket Row (pic below by Brixto-nia) – I’ve never gone wrong with a recommendation by Dave, the owner (in his down-to-earth, unpretentious style), from the carefully-chosen and keenly-priced selection here.

MICHAEL’S MEATS, Atlantic Road – I love making curries, and this butcher’s has long been my first stop for their great quality, fantastic value lamb – and always cheery service.

LISBOA GRILL, Brixton Hill – Haven’t visited for a while, sadly, but the traditional home-cooked style food served here (particularly the pork and clams) is definitely worth the sometimes-a-little-long wait.

PRINCE REGENT, Dulwich Road – A pub is often made by the bar staff service and here it’s always welcoming and very friendly – a great atmosphere, good mixed crowd, brilliant, good-value food. And – impor-tantly – very dog-friendly.

TATE BRIXTON – Ok, not an official Tate outpost, but my best mate has such a fantastic, inspiring collection of con-temporary art (inc Elizabeth Peyton, Jack Pierson, Tracy Emin, Rob Pruitt, Linder, etc) – the result of his great passion for it – that it’s been dubbed this by our mutual friends. Sadly, no public tours available just yet..‘Ruth Ling was an unusual cllr, she actually showed an interest’

@BrixtonBolt:@BrixtonBlog you need to introduce a shorter, more intense run to the Monday eve-ning running club!

I am currently the fastest over 40’s that Brixton has ever seen. I proved this last year at the first Brixton Bolt. I was up against some formidable and absolutely awesome old time sprinters, coming from the North, East, South and West of Brixton, which I found extremely daunting.

After winning the heats, all my thoughts of just finishing the race, let alone winning the title, soon evaporated. As I told one of the re-porters, the final race was close, but that was only because I wanted it

to be. Right from the start, I always knew I was going to be victorious.

I know this year they’ll all be pumped up and eager to prove a point. I’ve heard the talk on the streets, stuff like I was lucky, I went before the bell, I should have been tested, no one that age is that fast, they hadn’t trained and the race was fixed. Telling me they’ll be ready this time, they’ve been training with some man that used to beat Usain Bolt when he was in infant school, so I’m gonna get smoked! All the usual banter…

As you can imagine, with all these threats coming in, it was es-sential that I up my game. I have put together a grueling exercise routine consisting of yoga workouts, body pump & tons of sprint drills. Boy do I hate training sometimes, but Jah willing I’ll be ready.

All I have to say is: come, I ac-cept all challenges, you’ll all have a chance and that’s no chance. Peace out & one love.

Paul Marriott (The reigning Brix-ton Bolt over 40’s Champion)

I’m the fastest old man in Brixton, so bring it on!

Ruth was unusual among coun-cillors in actually showing an inter-est in our road and its issues. We will miss her.

James C

Jacqueline and I would like to record our sincere condolences to Ruth’s family on hearing of her sudden death. Sharp of comment and commit-ment Ruth Ling represented that outside edge of deeper understanding that we would all do well to recall in her memory.

As an elected member I will greatly miss her presence at Full Council and her most valuable contributions to PAC and the environment of decision-making in Committee Room 8.Cllr. Clive & Jacqueline Bennett

Very sad and shocking: Ruth Ling was a councillor in Clapham Com-mon before moving to Tulse Hill and she was tenacious, argumenta-tive but enthusiastic and humorous with it. There was a spark about her. A loss indeed.

Nick Biskinis

It is very sad news. I will remember her fondly. She

was a huge help in sorting out park-ing issues on our road and the sur-rounding streets. She was always eager to help and would answer phone calls and emails at any time of the day or night, with good hu-mour.

She was a good woman who will be missed by our community.

Michael Dalziel

I’ve known Ruth for over 20 years. It was easy to think that Ruth - so dedicated to Lambeth and her council responsibilities - lived only for her council work.

She had a wide range of interests and was knowledgeable about so many things. A good listener, good company. A shock and a great loss to all who know her.Geraldine Curtis

We are all very sad to hear this morning that Ruth Ling has died suddenly in the early hours of this morning at Kings Hospital. Ruth was a friend to us all and always great fun and sociable with wit and wisdom combined. Her funny sto-ries about her family and their time in Burma were always complex and full of laughs! Rest in peace Coun-cillor Ruth.

Cllr Paul McGlone

On June 15, Tulse Hill council-lor Ruth Ling tragically died of a heart attack. Here are some of your moving tributes...

Left: Ruth with Martin Tiedemann


ANALYSIS www.brixtonblog.com

[email protected]

A year ago, we nervously set up outside the station and handed out the first ever Brixton Bugle to commut-ers. There were some understandably suspicious looks and some strange questions – ‘who are you funded by?’ ‘Are you secretly a council paper?’ But there were other, really friendly Brixtonites who loved the idea of a paper that was theirs, truly local to their area. Now, 12 issues later, the Bugle has grown from eight to 20 pages. And we hope it’s got a little less, well, ‘shonky’ (as one reader described it).

The lovely thing about putting together this edition has been revisiting old friends – the Lambeth Country Show (see page 5) is now back in its July slot, Brixton Bolt is returning for the second year (p.3) and the young Lambeth Dads, who we interviewed a year ago, are going from strength to strength (p.4). We’ve also been lucky enough to get some match reports on Brixton primary school football – one of our editors even used to play with of those teams – so look out for more where that came from.

There is lots of new stuff happening too – Brixton is changing and changing fast. In this issue, we report on the plans to develop Somerleyton Road, part of the overall Future Brixton project which was voted through Cabinet last month. In the Bugle office, we are gearing up to take the first of our volunteer trainees as we launch the pilot phase of our new trainee programme.

We would also like to thank Lindsay Faller, one of our food editors, who is taking some time off from writing about Brixton’s eateries to have a baby. We wish her all the best and thank her for her fantastic contributions.

The Brixton Blog and BugleEst. 2012

BY STEVE REED MP

Ruth Ling was a one-off, wonderful, warm and infuriating in equal mea-sure. I first met Ruth twenty years ago when I moved into Clapham Common ward where she eventually became the longest-serving Clapham councillor in modern times. She came knocking on my door to wel-come me, as a Labour party member, to the area. That was the start of a long friendship during which Ruth inspired and supported me to stand for the council.

Ruth loved Clapham and became one of the area’s icons. She was a regular at the annual Clapham fete, events on the Common, and any number of community meetings. She helped get the area’s only second-ary school, the Lambeth Academy, opened. Ruth would often appear bleary-eyed after sitting awake late into the night composing detailed re-plies to the many issues that residents brought to her asking for help.

Ruth spent many years as a senior member of the planning committee. She was rightly proud of the incred-ible physical changes to Lambeth that have seen the borough’s town centres transformed with new leisure centres and pools in West Norwood, Clapham and Streatham, revamped town centres in Clapham and Brix-ton, the new Clapham library, and major new developments on the way in Waterloo and Vauxhall. These all stand as a tribute to Ruth’s work.

Ruth’s personal popularity meant that for many years she was the only Labour councillor in an increasing-ly non-Labour ward, and it’s fair to say she didn’t enjoy working with her fellow Lib Dem ward council-lors. In 2010, after sixteen years, demographic changes finally led to Ruth losing her marginal seat in Clapham Common. But she staged a dramatic come-back, returning to the town hall only weeks later after an unexpected by-election in Tulse Hill. Ruth found the move from rep-resenting Clapham to Brixton a very happy one. She often told me how generous and warm Brixton people were, and how much she enjoyed working for them.

Having lived for a time in Brazil Ruth was a fluent Portuguese speak-er, a talent she made use of to engage

Lambeth’s growing number of Portu-guese residents. She had also lived in Scotland and loved visiting friends in Edinburgh for the annual festival. For many years, as well as being a councillor, Ruth was also a freelance journalist working for trade maga-zines covering, amongst other things, the satellite communications indus-try. She leaves behind her older sister Ellie and Kitty, her younger sister.

During the ten years that I was Labour leader on Lambeth Coun-cil Ruth was a rock of support, and always direct in her views. She was the first to march into my office if she felt her constituents were being short-changed, and the first to put a reassuring arm around my shoul-der if she knew I was having a tough time. This mixture of bluntness and warmth is one Ruth’s many friends will recognise.

Her loss is a devastating one to everyone who knew Ruth. The land-scape looks a little more barren today with her removed from it. Ruth died shortly after suffering a heart attack, unaware that she was at risk from heart disease.

Rest in peace Ruth, a dear friend who made a big difference. You will be very sorely missed by very many people.

Steve Reed is the MP for Croydon North and was leader of Lambeth council for ten years.

IN MEMORY OF CLLR RUTH LING

The by numbers»100m distance of the Brixton Bolt race later this month»95 per cent of bike theft victims never see their cycle again»120g of ground almonds in Nick Balfe’s elderflower cake»July 20-21 dates of the highly anticipated Country Show»13 different zones on offer at the show this year»£25,940 raised in crowdfunding by new film Honeytrap»12,000 Brixton residents turned out to see Mandela in 1996»12,188 followers of @brixtonblog on social media site Twitter

Lounging with the Blog and Bugle

For the first time ever, Brixton Blog editors and guests will be sharing their skills at the Lambeth Country Show in a dedicated Brixton Blog Lounge. The work-shop tent will cover a range of media skills, including news writing, creative writ-ing, photgraphy and illustration across the LCS weekend. For a more detailed programme, check the website later this month, or follow us @BrixtonBlog.


WHAT’S ON www.brixtonblog.com

10

June 28 Swing Patrol return for their monthly blues cruise upstairs at the Ritzy, catering for all tastes with a sprinkling of Delta, Chi-cago, Texas, Louisiana and other styles. Tickets are £10 advanced and £12 otd - not exactly a steal - but if you’re true blue you’ll get your money’s worth by enjoying all 5 hours of live music and social dancing. Starts 8pm.

June 30 Tuck into a splendid roast at Gremio de Brixton’s Spanish Sundays. Their Sunday best fea-tures delicacies such as suckling pig, cheese-stuffed peppers and of course paella. Our mouths are already watering at the prospect. July 1 OK it’s a little off peak, but the Ritzy are screening Western classic and Clint Eastwood cult film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as part of their MGM season. Worth taking a day off work? We’re tempted. Starts 12pm. Warning: you will be singing the theme song for weeks.

July 2 Elizabeth Blanchet’s intrigu-ing exhibition, ‘Prefabs: Palaces for the People’, is open throughout July at the Photofusion gallery. Blanchett’s work is an examination of the era of the prefab - tempo-rary post-war constructions used to house the bombed out and homeless. A great way to delve into social history.

July 3 Budding writers now have their own group, based in Lough-

borough Junction’s SIA Communi-ty Cafe. All are warmly welcome, from the amateur and first-time writer to published authors. Runs 6:30-8:30pm every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month. Free, but please support the cafe by purchas-ing refreshments.

July 4 Exuberant comedian Josie Long graces Brixton with her presence at Dog Star’s Stand Up Tragedy, an alternative take on the traditional comedy night. Starts 7:30pm, tickets OTD. You might want to hot-foot it down there early to grab a seat.

July 5 The Ritzy offers another of its excellent director Q&As alongside a film screening. This month it’s eerie new thriller A Field In England with director Ben Wheatly. This is your chance to meet the creative mind behind the film. Starts 6:30pm, and remember to book early for this one.

July 7 Get down to Papa’s Cafe on Pulross Road for a good old-fash-ioned outdooor puppet theatre. Times not confirmed when we went to print.

July 9 Give your child the book-worm bug by registering them for the Children’s Summer Reading Challenge with Lambeth Librar-ies. Ask at your nearest library for details of how your child can participate.

July 10 Ferndale Road’s Chocolate

Museum is running a delectable chocolate-making workshop for sweet-toothed adults. You will learn how to make your own chocolate bars or truffles and learn about chocolate-tasting and pairing chocolate with wine. For bookings email [email protected].

July 11 One of your last chanc-es to see Knight Webb Gallery’s exhibition Sketches of Time, an exploration of painterly abstrac-tion through the works of artists from the UK, China, Korea and the USA.

July 12 Brockwell Park offers a summer holiday craft workshop for children: Rag Weaving II. Your child will make a work of art using

recycled textiles with artist Karina Blackhurst. £5 per child, discounts for the unwaged available. Booking absolutely essential. Email Beth at [email protected] or call 07427 685714.

July 13 Frockswap is exactly what is sounds like - a clothes swapping event! This one’s in aid of Trek-stock charity, supporting young people with cancer. £2 is the sug-gested donation for entry. All clean clothes and accessories (barring pants and socks) are welcomed and you’ll be awarded a swappable token for each item you bring. Effra Social, 2pm-5pm.

July 15 OK, this is not strictly in Brixton - but it’s close! And it’s organised by our lovely film editor

Ashley Clark. Clapham Picture-house is screening a 35mm presen-tation of Walter Hill’s The War-riors. The film will start at 9pm, but the cinema welcomes people to the bar from 8pm onward for free pizza, drinks, music, and a prize draw.

July 16 The TEDxBrixton confer-ence, standing for technology, en-tertainment and design, is the first of its kind to be held in Brixton. It will celebrate the innovation of the area and its inhabitants. Modelled on the well-known TED confer-ences in Long Beach California, the event will include over 500 participants and speakers includ-ing Paulette Randall, a Brixton Market stallholder turned theatre director tedxbrixton.com.

The biggie this month is the Lambeth Country Show but for those out of town that weekend (why?!), there’s lots more to look forward to this July, from a summer reading challenge to a ‘frockswap’, a reggae choir and tasty Spanish Sunday lunches. Listings editor Faye Lipson brings us the best of what’s going on in Brixton

CRITIC’S CHOICE: Brixton Bookjam, July 8 The wonderful and FREE literary bash that is Brixton Bookjam re-turns to Hootananny this evening.Hear from great writers, including Irenosen Okojie, Harys Francke, Leonore Schick and many more.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: Childrens’ market, June 29 Brixton Station Road market is today transformed into a playground of adventure and discovery for children. There’ll be workshops and activities for children aged 3-12 (including some run by Bugle ed Tim Dickens), info stalls from some wonderful children’s projects and services, with traders selling treats for all.


WHAT’S ON11

July 17 Singer-songwriter Leeroy Stagger (above) comes to Brixton fresh from the release of Radiant Land, his 7th studio album. The pro-lific 26-year-old sings and writes on a range of hard-hitting topics, from nuclear politics to his own alcohol-ism. £6.50 adv. Doors at 8pm.

July 18 Brixton-based five piece The No Frills Band will be playing the Hand In Hand with a mammoth 2 hour set of rousing and toe-tapping array of folk tunes. Free entry, starts 8pm.

July 19 Electric Social offers an un-usual night out tonight: VCR is, they boast, “South London’s only audio visual monthly’. Residents Tom Cen-tral, Mochi and Mas Effect bring you cutting edge music from all areas of the electronic spectrum, merged with exclusive and live video remixing. Free entry!

July 20 Smooth jazzsters Alice in Grooveland are gracing Agile Rabit to play you through your meal from 8pm. This’ll be funky.

July 22 Join a community of singers and celebrate Jamaica’s musical con-tribution to London’s culture. As part of the London City Reggae Choir you will sing ska, reggae, and dancehall classics and work towards paid per-formance. Bring your voice and love of this music and meet friendly like

minded people. A warm welcome will be given to professional and am-ateur singers alike. Every Monday.

July 23 Start the day with tranquility by attending an early morning yoga session at Yoga Point. Sessions run from 7-8am and people of all abilities and experience are welcome. £10 on the door, no booking required.

July 24 If Yoga doesn’t take your fancy, you can learn another tranquil movement style - Tai Chi Chuan, -at Brixton Community Base. Begin-ners’ class is every Wednesday from 7:30p-9pm. Entry is £10 and pay-ment is taken on the door.

July 25 Enjoy free improv comedy upstairs at the Priory Arms, tonight and every Thursday, with performers trying out new sketches. OK it could be rubbish, but on the other hand, you could see the next comedy su-perstar in the making! 8pm - 11pm.

July 26 The Impact Art Fair at Block 336 breaks new ground in the art world as the first UK show to high-light and showcase only the work of artists who have experienced mental health issues, disability or other socially excluding circumstances. Full of talent but lacking access and opportunities, the Impact Art Fair gives artists the chance to sell their work and be valued by wider society. This event spans July 26-28.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: Lambeth Country Show, July 20/21 Lambeth Country Show takes over Brockwell Park for one glorious weekend. Does this beloved annual institution need an introduction? The show brings together jams and rams, latin music and llamas, cakes, exhibitors and traders from all over the place. Look out for workshops on journalism skills run by none other than the editors of your Bugle! Don’t miss it people.

[email protected]

CRITIC’S CHOICE: Comedy at The Jamm, July 14Comedy legends Jo Brand, Omid Djalili and Bobby Davro descend on Jamm for a benefit in aid of the Mary Seacole Me-morial Statue Appeal. There’ll be food, laughs aplenty and tunes by Black Cat Music. Entry’s £17 in advance or £20 on the door. 6:30 - 11pm.

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CULTURE www.brixtonblog.com

HoneytrapBrixton Bugle meets Adam

Mars-Jones, an established au-thor and reviewer of books, films and theatre for The Guardian and Times Literary Supplement. He has lived in South London for 15 years, and is nearing completion of his critically-acclaimed John Cromer trilogy.

On the day we meet in a small cafe in Dulwich, Adam Mars-Jones is dog-sitting a small, extremely ex-citable Schipperke called Morris. Our conversation is punctuated by squeaks and scuffles as Morris ties himself in knots around various ta-ble, chair and hu-man legs. While the dog noisily enjoys a bowl of water, I ask Adam how work is going on the final book of his trilogy. The first and sec-ond books - Pilcrow (2008) and Cedilla (2011) - were met with a positive reception from critics and readers alike, despite their substantial length.

“I’m not intensively working on it at the moment,” says Adam, look-ing slightly weary at the mention of it. “The whole trilogy will be a mil-lion words by the time I’ve finished it.” He seems a little overwhelmed by the enormity of the project, and at the same time doesn’t want to come across as self-indulgent. “It sounds so worthy. It sounds so impossibly dull.”

The subject matter, in Adam’s words, “is not sexy.” The protago-nist’s chronic arthritis leaves him immobile and largely dependent for most of his childhood and adoles-cence. Yet John Cromer’s first-per-son monologue is far from dull. The books sparkle with Adam’s dry wit, and what to the uninitiated may sound like heavy going - a hyper-in-

telligent disabled man’s struggles to lead a fulfilling life in ‘60s and ‘70s England - is told in a way that is en-tertaining, compelling and touching.

Adam’s trilogy is epic in scope - in his own words, “it’s a big book about a little guy.” Instead of focusing on the well-worn epic tropes of travel, war and romance, Adam chooses to explore the trivialities of life for someone who struggles with the slightest of physical challenges. “All lives contain the same things,” Adam explains, “childhood, sex, work and death - with a love in the middle if you like. Every life is epic, if there are enough difficulties, which there

always are.I wonder

whether the con-straints encoun-tered by the main character have been at all limit-ing for the author. “Constraints are entirely produc-

tive in art,” Adam tells me, “any cre-ative artist is like Houdini: the more locked-up, the more free.” He has a firm understanding of how to let himself be the best writer he can be: “Your talent is not like olive oil that you drizzle over everything, it’s only produced by certain circumstances. The more rules I set myself, the freer the play can be.”

As we leave the cafe to take Mor-ris for a walk in Dulwich Park, I ask Adam if he worries that his experi-ence as a novelist can cause him to be over-sympathetic as a reviewer. “I don’t think anyone has ever accused me of that,” he answers. Indeed, Adam won the inaugural Hatchet Job of the Year award last year for his surgical demolition of By Night-fall by Michael Cunningham, a prize reserved for the most acid-sharp and incisively critical book reviews.

Adam is grateful that journalism

has sustained him financially since 1986. He’s never had to publish a book that he didn’t believe in. “You can’t afford to a have a bad book out there with your name on it,” he in-sists. Twenty years ago, when literary culture was more mainstream, this wasn’t such a problem: “When I first had a book out, libraries would take 2,000 copies of any novel that had been well reviewed. Nowadays, a first novel selling 2,000 copies in hardback would be felt to be a tri-

umph.” Born and raised a North Lon-

doner, Adam now lives in what he affectionately calls “the grotty part

of Herne Hill” and is a regular shopper at Brixton Market. His move south of the river came when he realised that he was commuting to walk a dog in Dulwich,

and he has now been seduced by the markets of South London. Initially a Peckham Market enthusiast - for the oysters apparently - he is now a Brix-ton convert.

Adam has also been a regular and extremely eloquent reader at the Brixton Book Jam, a free book reading event held at the Hootanan-ny every three months. When I ask him what he thinks about literary initiatives like the Book Jam, he ad-mits that his usual cynicism for such things was dispelled by the success of the event. On the basis of his lat-est reading, somebody immediate-ly bought Pilcrow: “I was thrilled. I always feel that writing is such a dwindling activity so anything that suggests otherwise is brilliant.”

By this point, Morris has man-aged to tie himself in a knot with a nervous-looking Schnauzer, who is looking unsure about his forced proximity with a furry ball of en-ergy. I decide it’s time to let Adam focus on exhausting Morris so he can get some peace for the rest of his dog-sitting session, and head back to Brixton. I’ll certainly be looking out for the third and final John Cromer novel, and hoping to see Adam on stage soon at a future Book Jam.

By Barney Evison

More arts interviews online at www.brixtonblog.com

INTERVIEW: Adam Mars Jones

This August, local writer and film director Rebecca Johnson will be shooting her new feature film Honeytrap in Brixton, and is encouraging young people in the community to get involved in the project. Arts contributor Sarah Solomon finds out more.

Rebecca Johnson has been creating films centred on aspects of life in Brixton for the past ten years, utilising her not-for-profit company Fierce Productions to produce the films. Short film Top Girl (2009) is one of her most suc-cessful pieces of work to date, and tells the story of a girl growing up in a man’s world.

Set in Brixton, Honeytrap is an urban drama based on true events, told from one girl’s per-spective. Yearning for love and status, fifteen-year-old Layla is swept into a whirlwind romance with self-styled gang leader/rap-per Troy – and then spat out the other side. Desperate to win Troy back, Layla offers to set up the boy who is in love with her to be killed.

Rebecca said: “We often see the headlines without exploring the social pressures that make these incidents happen, and that’s what I hope to show.

“Honeytrap is a difficult story and explores issues without easy solutions, and I hope the film goes some way towards giving a voice to young women who are often overlooked in British film.”

Earlier this year Rebecca and her team launched an online crowd-funding campaign for Honeytrap, encouraging the pub-lic to invest in the film and show support. Such activity amount-ed in $40,000 (approximate-ly £25,940) being raised, with £10,000 being donated in the first three days.

Fierce Productions were awarded a £20,000 grant towards a Training and Mentoring pro-gramme for Honeytrap from South London trust the Walcot Foundation, ensuring young peo-ple from Brixton have the oppor-tunity to get involved.

The Training and Mentor-ing programme for Honeytrap is now open for applications. If you are aged 17-25 years old, live in Lambeth and would like to get involved, visit fierceproductions.co.uk for further details

Spirit of Brixton returns next month

“You can’t afford to a have a bad book out there with your name on it”

“Your talent is not like olive oil that you driz-zle over everything, it’s only produced by certain circumstances”

Picture by Sarah Lee

Picture by Stuart Taylor



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Into orbitQ: You’ve just released a new re-cord, More Tales From The Orbser-vatory in collaboration with Lee Scratch Perry. Could you tell me a bit about that and whether you have plans to work with him again in the future?

A: We did a massive session with Lee Scratch Perry - out of that came two albums, this is the second one. This year we’re hoping to do live gigs with him in the UK at the end of the year, and we’ve got gigs with him in Paris, Tokyo and Norway. I’d love nothing more than to do an all-nighter at the Brixton Academy with Lee Scratch Perry too.

Q:Where do you like to play now?A: I prefer to perform at festivals that play new music, minimal or reggae music, not trance or rave. That’s very old hat - we’ve been there and done that. We’ve never come across as a rave band, we’ve come across more as a reggae band in essence. I wrote a track with a mate from Shakespeare Road called “Star 6 and 7” which is still one of my favourites, and it’s all based on African rhythms and thumb piano.

Q: Do you think the reggae and dub influences on your music are a result of growing up in and around Brixton?A: Yes, that and listening to the music around Notting Hill and Bat-tersea. Being an inner London boy, growing up in Battersea, reggae music was all around me.

Q: Have you spent a lot of time in Brixton?A: Brixton comes and goes through-

out my life. I bought my first 12-inch in Desmond’s Hip City. It was the original pre-release of Dennis Brown’s “Money in my Pocket”, if my memory serves me right. My brother was living in Effra Road in the early 1970s, and now we’ve just moved an Orb office this year to Effra Road. I’ve never really been away - it’s part of my blood.

Q: You lived in Coldhar-bour Lane’s Barrier Block from 1983-86. What was that like?A: The Barrier Block in those days was full of like-mind-ed, free-thinking mid-20 year-olds who were just out to make good music. I had some really good 18” bass bins. One of the only times I ever got burgled, they couldn’t steal my bass bins because they were too heavy. I remember having loads of parties there, DJ-ing cassettes with a pencil. There were lots of people around like Brother Culture, Touch Bass and Jimmy Cauty, be-fore he joined KLF.

Q: Has the change in South Lon-don been dramatic over the last forty years?A: Totally. Everything’s changing all the time. I was born in South Lon-don Hospital, and it’s now a Tesco. One thing I notice as I get older is that the only thing that ever hap-pens is change. If you can’t go with the change then you get stuck, like a broken record.

Q: Talking about records - you

were recently on the Today pro-gramme on Radio 4 talking about your love of vinyl. Why do you love vinyl so much?A: It’s a warmer sound, and there’s a lot I’ve got on vinyl that you can’t get on CD.

Q: What plans do you have for the future?A: The Orb is 25 years old this year, so we’re putting out a 4-box CD with Universal Records in October and we’re going to tour the world with it - hopefully we’re going to end up in Brixton. We’ve got dates in America, Australia, New Zea-

land and Japan. That reminds me, last time I was

in Japan in March I took a Brixton Bugle with me to show Thomas [the other half of The Orb]. I ended up giving it to a band from Detroit who thought Brixton was really cool. There you go - plugging you in Japan to boys from Detroit!

Q: That’s great, thanks! Is Thomas from London as well?A: No, he’s Swiss. He’s the Ying and I’m the Yang - I live in the city with lots of noise and he lives in the countryside with a lake and a big forest. We’re continuing to work

together and we’ve got a new proj-ect called ‘Moon Building’ on the go, which was originally an opera commissioned by the Royal Op-era House. We’re also working on another project with the Kakatsitsi Master Drummers of Ghana, and we’re playing at Glastonbury with them this year.

Q: You’re keeping busy then. Thanks for talking to me - and glad to hear that you’re taking The Brixton Bugle around the world with you!A: Anything local I hold dear to my heart.

Barney Evison interviews Brixton stalwart Alex Patterson of dance music duo The Orb

Leafy Josephine Avenue will once again host the Urban Art Fair – London’s largest annual open air Contemporary Arts Fair. Es-tablished in 2002 by portrait art-ist Tim Sutton, this much-loved Brixton art fair is now entering its twelfth year and promises to be its biggest and most ambitious yet. Sarah Soloman reports.

Tim Sutton (a resident of Jose-phine Avenue) developed Urban Art Fair after looking at the rail-ings on the avenue and realising the potential for them to be used to display art, creating an open air gallery. Tim explains,“I knew that local artists were desperate to find places to show their work and this seemed an obvious solution”.

On Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th July from 10am - 6pm, over two thousand artworks will be ex-hibited along the railings of the ave-nue by more than one hundred and seventy artists, showcasing the best in contemporary painting, print-making, photography and mixed media.

Urban Art Fair encourages a wide spectrum of creatives (both beginners and the more estab-lished) to get involved and sell their artwork directly to the public, mak-ing it an extremely open and acces-sible event.

“One of the most rewarding things for me is when I hear of art-ists, such as Priscilla Watkins or David Taylor, who first exhibited at our event and have now gone on to enjoy successful careers as professional artists,” Tim tells me, “but equally rewarding are the part timers who come year after year, regardless of their sales, purely be-cause they enjoy the atmosphere and want to show their work.”

Artworks on sale during the event will range from £10 to £1000, and entry is free, making the Urban Art Fair appealing to all art fans, whatever their budget.

An exciting addition to this year’s Urban Art Fair is an area ded-icated to Street Art, organised by Positive Arts. Visitors will be able to watch a variety of live artworks being created. The main focal point

of this space will be a life- size Lon-don Underground train that will be sprayed throughout the two day event by several street artists, giving visitors the chance to watch the installation develop from initial concept to final piece. The comple-tion of this piece is also to celebrate London Underground’s 150th anni-versary.

Crowd funding has taken place in order to set up the tube train installation. Every individual that has made a donation will be able to tag themselves on the sponsors wall during the event. Other key attractions include international food stalls.

The Urban Art Fair not only al-lows artists to sell their work, but also raises money for local causes. This year’s charity partners Holy Trinity School, Jubilee Primary School and the Southside Rehabil-itation Centre, will all receive a per-centage of the sales made during the weekend.

For further details on Urban Art Fair 2013 visit www.urbanart.co.uk

Urban Art Fair back on the street

Picture, left to right: Alex Patterson, Lee Scratch Perry & Thomas Fehlmann



This month’s illustration was suggested by Stella Gurney who wrote a lovely list of the things she loves about Brixton. The one that caught my eye was: “The mix of people at any bus stop.” Stella will receive a free print of the artwork. Keep those brilliant suggestions coming (@kpictures) and you might have a print to call your own next month.

See more Brixton Scenes by Kaylene at www.KayleneAlder.com

Brixton illustratedBus stop, by Kaylene Alder

What with all the recent social un-rest going on in Sweden, the UK release of Ruben Ostlund’s gen-uinely disturbing Stockholm-set Play (July 12) couldn’t be more timely. With formal hints of Mi-chael Haneke, this austere, intelli-gent drama is based on real case re-ports, and tells the story of a group of black boys who play an elaborate psychological prank on two white boys and one of Asian heritage. Be prepared for a stark, confrontation-al and occasionally shocking expe-rience.

Speaking of shocking, even though Ben Wheatley’s mush-room-addled, Civil War-set A Field In England (July 5) is the first Brit-ish film to ever be released on all platforms simultaneously (includ-ing a TV premiere on Film 4), your best bet is to experience this char-acteristically warped affair on the big screen.

On a lighter note, coming hot, fresh and monochrome out of Manhattan is Noah Baumbach’s gorgeous Frances Ha (July 26). It stars the radiant Greta Gerwig as a

27-year-old dancer facing all kinds of life and career decisions. Sure, you could complain that it’s just another sausage in the long pro-duction line of drama about white, privileged self-pitying types (c.f. the horrible Damsels In Distress, the much better TV show Girls), but you’d be missing its self-effacing

humour, not to mention its innate warmth and wisdom. Redolent of Woody Allen at his perceptive best, this is a subtle and wholly enjoyable character study which could come to define a particular subset of a generation.

Also out is Sofia Coppola’s baf-fling latest, The Bling Ring (July

12). Based on a true-crime article in Vanity Fair magazine entitled ‘The Suspects Wore Louboutins’, it focuses on a group of spoiled L.A. teenagers who used the internet to track the whereabouts of various celebrities, then burgled their hous-es. Intriguing premise, huh? Sadly, in the hands of Coppola, it becomes a banal, repetitive drag, surgically voided of character and interest. It looks nice, though.

The latest in this summer’s long line of big budget blockbusters - al-beit the first to have a name which makes me chuckle like a puerile schoolboy - is Pan’s Labyrinth di-rector Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim (July 12). Expect nasty villains, 3D, explosions and Idris Elba as a character called Stacker Pentecost. Stacker Pentecost! Sounds alright to me. Monsters are also on the menu in Monsters Inc. prequel Monsters University, a Pixar-produced tale of young monsters growing into older monsters at a university for monsters called Monsters Univer-sity. Monster! What is Eric Hall up to these days, anyway? Maybe he’s

under house arrest like Julian As-sange, the subject of Alex Gibney’s compelling Wikileaks doc We Steal Secrets (July 12).

All films showing at the Ritzy Cinema, Brixton Oval. Visit http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ritzy_Picturehouse/ or call 0871 902 573 to book.

Ashley Clark runs the film blog Permanent Plastic Helmet. Fol-low it on Twitter @PPlasticHel-met and/or him @_Ash_Clark.

The Ritzy’s cinematic month with Ash Clark

BAFFLING: The Bling Ring, with Emma Watson

ALLEN-ESQUE: Frances Ha, directed by Noah Baumbach


FOOD www.brixtonblog.com

BY LINDSAY FALLERThere is a particular tribe of people in the world whose main love in life is to feed others. Both my mothers-in-law are feeders (lucky for me); I am a feeder; every Jewish or Italian grandmother I’ve ever met is a feeder, and it would seem that Rancho de Lalo are feeders as well. I have walked by their little restaurant in Brixton Village countless times and most often it is heaving, full of people of all nationalities comfortably eating vast plates of food, looking happily satisfied.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from my visit. My North American ignorance assumed it was all about beans, rice and cornmeal. I wasn’t completely off, but the menu is properly meat driven as well, so may not appeal to militant vegetarians.

For a Tuesday lunchtime, the restaurant was not as busy as we expected. Whilst other shops in Brixton Village were gearing up for the day’s trading, it seemed that Rancho de Lalo had been in full swing for a couple of hours already. We sat by a table at the front of the restaurant, which gave a great opportunity for people watching around the market. A glance around us quickly confirmed that this wasn’t going to be a tiny meal. We were here to be fed and by god, we were going to eat.

We started with an empanada and arepa con queso. The empanada was a crispy fried cornmeal pocket, stuffed with shredded beef and potatoes. It seemed homemade, and was wonderfully meaty. The cornmeal casing was perfectly crispy and with a dousing of their homemade spicy salsa, it was delicious. The arepa, a round patty of fried cornmeal with slices of thick white cheese, was slightly less interesting, but was also homemade, and again brought to life with the heady salsa. I was beginning to notice a trend: their salsa

goes with everything. For main courses, I had the

carne a la brase, which was char-grilled beef steak, served with po-tatoes, avocado, and plantain. My lunch partner had the day’s spe-cial, which consisted of chicken soup, and chicken escalope. Both came with rice and a tomato, cucumber and coriander salad. Clearly this was not eating for the faint of heart. My steak was large and slab-like, but also thin and juicy. It had the über-beefy flavour of South American beef, which I’m personally not hugely keen on, but with more salsa it was definitely improved. The salad was a fresh addition to the enormous meal, as was the avocado and lightly fried plantain.

My partner’s sizeable bowl of chicken soup was a clear broth with vegetables and pieces of gizzard. It was intensely chicken-y, hearty and flavourful. Both of us agreed it might be the nicest broth we’d ever tried. Her chicken escalope was impressive in size, but not really in flavour. The breaded and thin chicken wasn’t bad, but nothing special; it tasted no different than a Bird’s Eye bread-ed chicken breast.

Rancho de Lalo is not a place for fine dining, but it doesn’t pretend to be. Your wallet will only be a touch lighter, but you’ll leave with your belly significantly heavier. You can go many places to eat, but you will be properly fed at Rancho de Lalo; it’s clear they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Extensive lunch for two excluding service £25. Open 10am to 5pm, closed Sundays.

Lindsay blogs at blondevsbland.com. This is her last review before she goes on ma-ternity leave until the end of the year - we wish her all the best!

BY NICHOLAS BALFE

It’s funny how food conjures up memories of childhood. For some it’s jam roly poly in the school canteen. For others, it’s fish and chips after football practice. For me, my most vivid food memory is of elderflower fritters at my grandmother’s house in Devon. I can see them sizzling away in the frying pan, then being desperate to grab one as they sat draining on kitchen paper, still too hot to hold...

One of the reasons it’s stuck with me perhaps, was that the memories include not only the eating, but a ritual that came before it. I remember walking down little back roads on an early summer evening, picking the strongly scented flowers directly from the trees, with Dad lifting me up so I could reach the branches.To this day, the heady, floral musk of elderflower is one of the most evocative smells I know. The sweet perfume infuses beautifully into syrups which can then in turn be used toflavour cocktails, sorbets, creams and jellies. Elderflower can also add interesting meadowy top notes to salad dressings when steeped in vinegar. Or ferment with sugar and water to make Champagne – could there be a more fitting way to celebrate the glorious English summer?

These days I’m on the look out for budding elder trees from the end of May. At work we call it Elder Watch – where every cycle ride, train journey or walk in the park might lead you past some early blossom. The seasons may well have been a bit wonky this year, but by now – even with only a couple of short bouts of sunshine – all the elder trees are in full bloom. There’s plenty to go around too. In fact, once you’ve spotted one, you’ll more than likely be spotting them all over the place – look out for the white umbrella-like sprays facing upwards from the trees.

Basic Elderflower Syrup (Makes approximately 1.5 litres)

The essence of summer. With a splash of white wine, this syrup makes a wonderful jelly, especially when paired with tart gooseberries or juicy strawberries. It also has an uncan-ny ability to make soft drinks seem grown-up whilst making cocktails feel childlike. Alternatively, use in the cake recipe below.

• 30 heads of elderflower in full bloom• 1 litre of water• 1.5kg caster sugar• l lemon (zest & juice)• 1 tsp citric acid (optional, available in the Nour Cash and Carry)

Strip the flowers off the stalks with a fork into a clean bucket or container. A few bits of stalk are fine, but too many may

give a slightly ‘green’ flavour. Meanwhile, make a syrup by gently heating the water and sugar, until all the sugar has dissolved. When the syrup has reached a simmer, take off the heat, add the lemon zest and pour over the flowers. Add the lemon juice and citric acid if using, and stir a few times. Cover and leave overnight to infuse. The next day, strain out the liquid through a sieve into clean jars or bottles and discard the flowers and lemon zest. The liquid will keep for a week or more in the fridge or longer if sterilised.

Elderflower, Polenta & Almond Cake (serves 8)

A wonderfully light, moist cake that stays fresh for ages. On its own, it’s wheat and dairy free – dare I say healthy? - although it partners up well with cream fraiche, mascarpone flavoured with a little more elderflower syrup, or perhaps a scoop of ice cream. Perfect for a midsummer’s tea party.

• 120g ground almonds• 100g polenta• 1 tsp baking soda• 4 eggs, yolks and whites separated• 170g caster sugar• 170ml vegetable oil• zest of 4 lemons and juice of 2• 150ml elderflower syrupLine a 25cm loose-bottomed circular cake tin with parch-ment paper and preheat the oven to 180c. Combine the almonds, polenta and baking soda. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, caster sugar, vegetable oil and lemon zest. Add the dry ingredients, and beat together. The mixture will be very thick.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into almond, sugar and vegetable oil mixture in three batches, so the two are evenly combined. Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 35 – 40 minutes.

When a skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean, the cake is done.

While the cake is still warm, make holes all over the top using a skewer or fork. Mix the lemon juice and elderflower syrup together, and pour all over the top of the cake, guiding the liquid into the holes.

Serve with crème fraiche, mascarpone, ice cream, or on its own. Nicholas Balfe runs Salon, Market Row, serving modern British sourced food. For bookings call 020 7501 9152. They offer a £15.95 3 course lunch with unlimited people watching…

Rancho de Lalo - bring your appetite!

Recipe: Elderflower Polenta Cake

BRIXTON’S OWN GLUTEN-FREE BAKERY

Suppliers to Selfridges Food Hall

and other quality outlets

Delicious pies, cakes and pastries (that just happen to be gluten-free)

Great-tasting gluten-free bread

Baked with pride at

26 Brixton Village

fantastic tea and coffee

brilliant bacon sandwiches

Special offer for Bugle readers:

Spend £10 or more and get a free pot of tea or cup of coffee

Twitter:@wagfree facebook.com/wagfree www.wagfreefood.com


COMICS www.brixtonblog.com


[email protected]


[email protected]


www.brixtonblog.comLAMBETH COUNTRY SHOW

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The vegetable sculptures, the owls, the music and – of course – the cider. Yes, it’s the Lambeth Country Show and it’s back to delight the crowds in its normal July slot this month, writes Zoe Jewell.

The build-up seems so much sweeter after last year’s close call, when the council almost cancelled the 2012 show. The reaction around Brixton to that news, though, was testament to how important the show has become as an event where many dif-ferent Lambeth communities come together and a moment when we can all just, well, have a good time. The Show was eventually rescheduled to September and now it returns in its 39th year.

Here we give you a taster of what to expect at the Lambeth Country Show 2013 on July 20 and 21. For the full round-up head to www.brixtonblog.com.

With its cult status, and le-thal knockout abv strength, Chucklehead is a Country Show stalwart.

Liz Dinnage, from the fami-ly company behind the West Country tipple, told us: “We always look forward to it

even though it’s really hectic for us. It’s the biggest show that we do. We’ve only just found out in the last three weeks that we’re doing it be-cause they were really slow this year for some reason. We have to do so much plan-ning for it. When we’re there and we’re serving, everyone is so love-ly. It’s amazing. Everyone is so laid back and pleasant and it just makes it really easy for us. In September last year, it just didn’t work for us because we have so many shows around that time that we couldn’t get enough bot-tles together. This year we will bring loads of cider with us.”

Chucklehead Cider

Anda Tolkan, Journalist and retired teacherAre you going this year? What are you looking forward to?Yes, definitely. It’s always a really good day. I love the fact that it’s so representative of the community and that there’s something for everyone – from tiny little trade stalls to well-known musical acts on the main stage. Do you think events like the Country Show are important?

Absolutely – at a time where a sense of community is ev-er-harder to maintain, things like this are vital to bring people together.

Joe Barry, Marketing ManagerWhat are you most looking forward to about the Lambeth Coun-try Show?The mixture of live music and food is fantastic - it’s a real highlight of the calendar and I’ve been going since I was a kid.Any fond memories of previous years?All the farmyard stuff, particularly the sheep shearing. That’s my resounding memory of the show. I found that fascinating as a kid and still love it!

Vox Pops by Max Macbride

NATTY Natty and his band The Rebelship will be playing a mix of reggae, blues, folk and highlife music to the Brock-well crowds. Natty was born in California but grew up in London listening to his parents’ diverse record col-lection, from Bob Marley to Paul Simon and Fela Kuti. He got involved in the UK hip hop and garage scenes as a young MC and was signed by Atlantic Records in 2008. Natty’s debut album Man Like I established him as a festival favourite and he performed on Later With Jools Holland and The BBC Electric Proms. He has collaborat-ed with Nitin Sawhney, Roots Manuva and Tony Allen. His second album is soon to be released.

MAX ROMEO One of Jamaica’s best reggae lyricists and one of the best political singers in the history of roots reggae, Max Romeo will be joining the main stage from 5pm on Sunday. Romeo’s album Let the Power Fall, released in 1971, advocated the Peo-ple’s National Party (PNP) and the group chose his song as their campaign theme for the 1972 general election in Jamaica. After that, Romeo worked with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry to produce sev-eral albums including the well-received ‘War Ina Babylon’.

LEE THOMPSON’S SKA ORCHESTRALee Thompson from Madness takes on lead vo-cals in a ska line up with new twists to old tunes. Fellow Madness man Mark Bedford will also be performing on bass.

Show highlights

Word on the street...


LIFESTYLE www.brixtonblog.com

Years Four, Five and Six children from Hitherfield Primary School, Streatham Hill, recently competed in an art competi-tion with a positive message.

The children looked at a variety of environmental illustra-tions, discussing the meanings in these works. They then had a go at creating their own illustrations with the theme ‘Keep Lambeth Tidy’. They were challenged to convey the message using only pictures and a lot of them used local landmarks in their work.

All of the children worked brilliantly on their illustrations but Milo’s (Year 4) work stood out as a beautifully drawn land-mark (Streatham Library) with some helpful citizens doing their part in the foreground.

Some other notable entries are displayed here. The children hope you enjoy looking at them as much as they enjoyed mak-ing them.

ART: Keep Lambeth Tidy

BY FIONA LAW

Keep sowing! Lettuces, chicory, radicchio are especially good as catch crops between rows of plants that take longer to mature, such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, ca-volo nero and cabbages of all sorts, which can also be sown now. Catch crops are quick maturing plants. Heading lettuces, for instance, can take only six weeks and baby leaves only three or four at this time of year. This means you make eco-nomical use of the space. Other easy catch crops include radish-es, turnips, pak choi, mizuna and spring onion. Catch crops tend to be easy ones to grow in containers too, so long as you keep the com-post refreshed and topped up.

Autumn crops. For an October burst of sweetness sow late sea-son peas and mange tout now in a slightly shaded spot. Keep well watered and support with sticks or netting. Cut and come leaves like chard and spinach will also go on into the season. They can be prone to bolting, that is, producing a flowering stem that goes to seed so diverting energy from the tender leaves you want to eat. This hap-pens under the stress of drying out, so water consistently and choose bolt-resistant varieties. Beetroot sown now will be ready in October. Choose a range of varieties for a colourful dish Jamie Oliver stylee: yellow ‘Golden Detroit’, pink and white ringed ‘Chioggia’ and classic, reliable and tasty ‘Boltardy’.

Dream on for Summer 2014. Visit gardens to see what flow-ering plants you like, and taste varieties of strawberry, for in-stance, and make a few planning notes.

Weeding. Watch out for the super prolific seeders such as hairy bittercress and the sneaky perennials that can regenerate from a tiny piece of root such as bindweed.

Fiona Law is a garden designer and horticulturalist, also work-ing on community growing projects in Lambeth. Follow @vivekagardens @lambethpoly @bandstandbeds

GROWING SPACE: Garden, balcony or windowsill, what to do in July

Sooner or later every parent’s Brixton shopping trip will require an emergency pit-stop; a nappy change, a screaming baby who needs feeding, or just an over-whelming need for a piece of cake after a tough day. But you find yourself looking at cafes through different eyes, and suddenly the quality of the flat white just isn’t quite as important as buggy space and a changing table. So, here’s my parents’ guides to some of Brixton’s most child friendly cafes.

San Marino is a great choice on Brixton Road, just under the rail-way arch. They do a good strong decaf for those who never got back onto the caffeine post-baby, and are very welcoming to babies and small people. It’s also got a great outside space, and even the most inquisitive child can be kept occu-pied by watching Brixton pass by on a sunny afternoon.

Market Row and Brixton Vil-lage are definitely more challeng-ing if you have a buggy in tow. The units are generally pretty small with close packed tables which can make a pitstop more stressful

than relaxing. The Breadroom on Market Row do great coffee though (including strong decaf!), and have charming Gallic table service to the outside seats which means you won’t have to worry about squeez-ing in and out with a buggy and a hot drink. The pastries are incredi-ble as well, The new toilets in Brix-ton Village also have a changing table which makes the whole ex-perience a bit more child friendly, even if you do have to pay 20p for the privilege.

Just outside on Atlantic Road are The Lounge, and Kaff Bar, two great choices especially if you are meeting up with other parents.Both have plenty of space, comfy seats if you’re feeding a small baby, and a great relaxed atmosphere for a more leisurely afternoon coffee, not to mention some great cake in Kaff.

Sadly one of the most child friendly spots in Brixton, Cafe Sitifis on Rushcroft Road, is due to shut down soon. It’s the only place I’ve found in Brixton with a dedi-cated (if small) child’s play space and toys, and the staff are very wel-

coming to families. It’s currently only open Thurs-Sun afternoons, and is well worth a visit before it sadly disappears.

Of the chains, Cafe Nero is my favourite, with plenty of space, and sofas, and a good view of the high street.

However, the cost of all these coffees can start to add up, espe-cially if, like me, you find the cake counters a bit hard to resist. So, it’s worth remembering that both Mothercare and Morleys have parents’ rooms where you can feed and change your child free. Mor-leys is not much more than a large disabled loo, hidden away behind the ladies’ clothing on the first floor, but Mothercare is a dedicated space with comfy seats for feeding, and bottle warming facilities. It’s not as much fun as stopping for a coffee, but it’s a great place to re-member when you’re a bit stuck.

Lucy Burton volunteered to take over the Little Brixton column from the wonderful Ruth Miller, who’s sadly had to take a break from it.

LITTLE BRIXTON: Baby-friendly cafes


ADVERTORIAL www.brixtonblog.com

News from Lambeth Council • • •

Healthy Finance FairLambeth Town HallFriday 19 July 11am-3pmNeed help with budgeting? Want to open abank account but don’t know where tostart? Come along to our event where youwill be able to find out about how to opena bank account, save on your energybills, and get advice how to look afteryour budget and get out of debt. You canalso try our payday loans game, tickleyour taste buds in our ‘supermarket vname brand’ flavour test and much more.

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Lambeth Country ShowSaturday 20 and Sunday 21 JulyCome along to the Council’s campaigns tent at the borough’sbiggest outdoor event. We will have information about looking afteryour money, benefits changes and payday loans. Sid the Shark willalso be at the park warning people of the perils of borrowing fromloan sharks.

Other events throughout the week include:

• Benefit cut advice sessions at our customercentres in Brixton and Streatham

• Illegal money lending training sessions for staff,volunteers and community representatives

• RBS MoneySense debt and finance workshopsfor parents in children’s centres and schools

• Borough-wide tour by Sid the Shark and theIllegal Money Lending Team educating peopleabout the dangers of using loan sharks toborrow money

• A job fair run by Broadway and Job Centre Plusfor families affected by the new benefit cap.

During Healthy Finance Week the Council will alsobe meeting with payday loan companies andbanks from around the borough to discuss waysthey can help residents make better financialdecisions to manage their money better.

Visit www.lambeth.gov.uk/benefitchanges for more details

Get the low down on loan sharks and paydayloans and find out the best ways to look afteryour money responsibly.

We know times are tough and many of our residentsare struggling to keep their finances in order and areoften resorting to drastic measures to stay afloat.That’s why we are holding our first ever HealthyFinances Week between 15 and 22 July.

The dedicated week of action will:• raise awareness of the pitfalls of using

payday loan shops• offer advice to help residents avoid

or deal with loan sharks• promote effective money management• offer advice about managing debt

A number of free activities will take place including:

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SPORT www.brixtonblog.com

BY GARRY TURNBULL

Young footballers from Brixton reached the final of a prestigious primary schools tournament in Lambeth in June, missing out on victo-ry to Telferscot Primary of Balham.

Sudbourne Primary School football team competed for the Walcot Cup alongside 19 other primary schools in the Lambeth and Southwark Pri-mary Schools Seven-a-Side Football Tournament, which took place at the Dulwich Sports Ground.

The championship decider was contested by 2012 Walcot Cup winners Sudbourne and newcomers Telferscot. The game was decided by a goal

in the first half by Telferscot’s Troy Chiabi and Telferscot remained victorious, win-ning 1-0. This was Telferscot school’s first appearance in the competition and on the same day the team also picked up a ‘Fair Play’ award.

The primary schools tour-nament is organized by lo-cal volunteers and this year it raised £200 for the HEAL project in Zambia, which cares for orphaned children in Lusake.

The trophies and medals were presented by the Mayor of Lambeth, Cllr Mark Ben-nett, who expressed his de-light in seeing so many chil-dren proudly representing local schools and enjoying themselves playing football.

Telferscot winning team (right): From left to right, Back - Luke Smith (coach), Middle - Stephen Cofie, Stephen Temorio Franco (capt.), Troy Chiabi, Tom Chiabi, Front - Rasham Daly, Charlie Kuhl, Ethan Sutcliffe, Jack Kuhl. Sudbourne School v. St Berna-dettes (above)

Football final for Sudbourne School

Join our Brixton Blog Running Club, every Monday at 7pm. We run from Windrush Square and welcome all abilities. Time to get training for the Brixton Bolt on July 26!

BY ALEC RODGER PICS BY CELESTE MORTON

With a little under a week to go until ‘le Tour’ begins, Herne Hill Velodrome hosted Brixton Supermad track meet for an afternoon of racing organised by Brixton Cycles club to celebrate the late Rob Jefferies and Ron Beckett. With a schedule of events to inspire the budding Bradley Wiggins’ and Mark Cavendishes out there, it was a day not to be missed.

Despite British summertime still holding out on us and the wind gusting across the open air velodrome, riders and spectators gathered for an exciting afternoon of racing.

Brixton Cycles, celebrating its 30th year in business this year, were there to show not only that the workers co-op-erative could organise a wonderful day’s racing but that their racing prowess could match that of the competitors who had arrived to challenge for the honours.

With a schedule of around 25 races including finals for riders in a mix of senior, youth, mens’ and womens’ categories and culminating in the mens’ Super Madison Trophy final, the day had plenty to offer.

The riders too had plenty on offer with £500 of prize money in the pot. The Brixton Cycles organisers were commit-ted to providing equity in prize money between men and women too.

The prize fund included £100 from the Friends of Herne Hill Velodrome for the top riders in the Womens’ Keirin, the event in which Victoria Pendleton secured Gold at London 2012.

The day started off with scratch races, where the first to the line over a speci-fied number of laps wins, with Brixton Cycles’ Sarah Connell picking up the win in the womens’ race after a powerful solo ride from the front of the group.

The support category scratch race was won by Andy Shackel of Hansford Cycling with a late surge to break free from his competitors. He would later go on to pick up the win in the support section Devil race in which the last rider over the line after each lap is eliminated, leaving the final three riders to sprint over the final lap for the win. Other

notable rides came from Miles Annon of Swinnerton Cycles in the mens’ sprint, Chris Hoy’s favoured event, and Joe Truman in the men’s Keirin.

But it was Brixton Cycles Sarah Con-nell (top left) who stole the show with a superlative display to dominate across the events in which she rode, including wins in the Women’s Devil, Women’s Keirin and the Ron Beckett memorial double harness pursuit alongside James Connell.

The day’s racing was themed around the madcap discipline of Madison racing, in which riders race as pairs, dramatically hand slinging to tag in and out of the race while attempting to avoid crashing into other competitors doing likewise.

Madison racing proved to be a disci-pline in which competitors from team Nuun – YB (bottom left) were incred-ibly proficient, picking up wins in the scratch and points race versions of the discipline. The thrilling finale, the Rob Jefferies Super Madison 42 lap points race, was case in point as the pair Tony Lock and Symon Lewis worked their way to victory. Adept tactical decisions and supreme bike racing skill proved too much for other competitors despite a supreme effort from the Brixton Cycles pair, who could not quite match their skill and strength.

Tour de Herne Hill - Supermad cycling

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